Just this spring, I saw WILSON live, for the first time, when they were on the road, supporting Halestorm. I really enjoyed watching and listening to them and was thus, even more curious to find out whether they would sound just as good on CD as they do at a live concert.
It all begins with the album´s title track „Right To Rise“. And this catchy tune is just perfect to start an album with - powerful instruments, an edgy and strong vocal performance and an overall package that will simply stick to your mind - but still, the song has its rough edges. It´s a promising beginning.

You perhaps remember it from the good old times – when you were going through the radio frequencies to find a good channel –”Windows Down!“ “ brings you back to exactly that time in its intro. And also the rest of the song has an old touch, reminding the listener of the good old rock music times. It´s a really strong song that musically and vocal-wise could have not been done any better.

“Hang With The Devil” “ is yet another song that is coherent, sound-wise – vocals with a lot of character and expression, instruments that gets the listener going and, which also nicely support the vocals. It is clearly one of those songs that will end up running in a continuous loop on my stereo.

Not any less powerful and with a sweet guitar part in the intro we continue with “Give Em – Hell” “. It´s a track that I could imagine to work perfectly well live – the lyrics are simple: “you give em hell”, four words that are very easy to sing and/or shout and then just throw the horns up in the air. I wish I´d be at a concert right now – but the song works really well on the album, too. It clearly has earworm potential.

This gets us to the end of this well-done album. With “Before I Burn” , you feel like being caught in an endless loop at the beginning. The same piece of lyrics is repeated over and over again but then, the actual start of the song is like a kick in the face and you are wide awake. It might be one of the album´s heaviest tracks, yet there is also time for some slower passages. It´s another song that sticks to the mind.

ConclusionWith that album, Wilson managed to achieve something that is not easy – not only are the songs still stuck in my head, I also have the strong urge to listen to the album again. And again. And again. The pure and honest sound, hardly altered and full of power and joy of playing, the vocals with their rough edges and that special something – guys, count down the days until you can go and grab this album from your record store´s shelves!